


I Knew This Would Happen

by luxshine, Milosflaca



Category: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-03
Updated: 2011-04-03
Packaged: 2017-10-17 13:16:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxshine/pseuds/luxshine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milosflaca/pseuds/Milosflaca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JC is not a psychic, no matter how much he wants to convince Nick about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Knew This Would Happen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sami B](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Sami+B).



> Written for the 2010 Make the Yuletide Gay Pop slash Sesa

“No JC, you’re not a psychic.”

JC rolled his eyes setting his cup of coffee down in the kitchen countertop, offering Nick, who was sitting on the couch, a tired look.

“If there’s a psychic in your group,” Nick continued, “It’s Lance, not you.”

JC couldn’t help but make a face. It was true Lance had the creepy talent of knowing in advance everything that was going on in everyone’s life, but he knew for a fact that it came from being ‘at the right moment’ everywhere. In other words, for his extreme talent of being nosy.

It had nothing to do with supernatural powers.

“Lance is not a psychic,” he corrected Nick while walking towards him and sitting on the couch. “He’s just nosey and a meddler.”

Nick laughed and kissed him in the cheek, embracing him with both arms to pull him closer.

“You say that just because he was the first one to know we were dating. Even before _you_ knew it.”

JC snorted at the comment. Was no one ever going to let that go?

It was true that after six months of going out with Nick, JC never realized that their casual ‘play dates’ had turned into something more than just two friends hanging out. And it had taken Lance’s cunning nosey skills to point that out to him and have him blurting out, in the middle of a fancy restaurant in L.A, ‘ Holy shit, I’m dating Nick Carter’.

Now that he thought about it, they’d been absolutely lucky that no one who could give a damn had been around. Surely any tabloid would have jumped at the chance to out yet another boy band member. Especially Nick Carter, who was part of the _one_ boyband who still hadn't had a gay scandal, and thus had a perfect "straight" record, if JC allowed himself the pun.

“So I was a little slow on the uptake that time, it still doesn't mean that I'm not a psychic.”

“No, of course,” Nick said, turning back again his attention to the hockey game on the TV in front of them. “It only means that you are stubborn as hell... But a psychic sweetie? Uhm no. I don’t think so.”

JC let his arms fall to their sides pouting as he did so. Here he was trying to be open and honest to the man he loved and all he could get in return was mockery. Great.  
And it’s not as if he had laughed in Nick’s face when he told him years ago that he had an alter ego in his own comic series called Ninjaman. Where Howie had a magic poncho of some sort and AJ had been portrayed as a skillfull man with guns, when he couldn’t even beat him at Duck Hunt.

Nick owed him at least this much.

JC crossed his arms, diverting his eyes to the other side of the room, where the pantry was half opened and a box of cereal was showing from within.

“Mhhm,” he mused to himself, already thinking about a way to prove that he was not full of it.

Nick obviously turned to see him. He could even feel his eyes on the back of his head.

“If I’m not psychic,” JC began, turning around still with his arms crossed with his head slightly raised with pride. “Then how can I know Justin was here this morning, Uh?”

Nick sighed, offering him a condescending smile. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me.”

JC stood up, going to the pantry and fetching out the cereal box, tossing it to Nick who grabbed it in mid air.

“The cereal box,” he said matter of factly. “I can sense his aura in the apartment. And I can assure you he stayed until after breakfast, because he didn’t want to see either of us.”

“Really? That’s all you’ve got?”

“All that I’ve got?” JC asked spreading his arms wide open. Nick was unbelievable. “I dare you to call Justin right now and ask him if he was here this morning. Come on, call him.”

“There’s no need to,” Nick answered with a tired tone in his voice. Then he stood up and walked to the kitchen with the cereal box in his arms. “I know he was here, because a) he’s your ex boyfriend, b) he has a spare key to this apartment, c) he always stays until after breakfast so that I wouldn’t think that you guys are cheating on me and d) he’s the only one who leaves the cereal boxes open after he has had breakfast.”

JC’s cheeks turn to a deep red. It’s true it was damning evidence, but didn't prove his abilities weren't real. That just meant Nick’s attention wasn’t entirely focused on his video games as everyone said it was. But before he could open his mouth to say something to defend his case, his boyfriend went on.

“Plus, he is the ONLY one who eats cereal with marshmallows in it. And you always have a box in the pantry to feed him, as if he was some sort of stray cat for whom you leave morning treats,” Nick said half laughing. “I’m telling you, I’m actually surprised you didn’t lay out a little path in the floor with the trix’s fruits so he could find his way back in, when we first moved in here.”

“Joke all you want, I still have powers. And I can prove it to you.” JC crossed his arms again, half frowning.

He wasn’t mad at Nick for his remark, but it had been enough. It was time his boyfriend acknowledged the truth about their relationship. And that truth was that Ninjaman was dating Shawn Spencer. As simple as that.

“JC, I know you don’t like Psych. If you watched the show, you’d know that Shawn is no psychic. But fine,” Nick looked at him, still smiling as he turned off the TV while JC wondered if he had said the last part out loud. The light of the Tivo was still on so it wasn’t as if Nick was sacrificing his for JC. “Prove it to me.”

“What?” JC asked.

“Prove it to me,” Nick repeated this time with a smug know-it-all-smile, as he walked closer to him. “You can do it, right? Prove your pychic powers to me. What am I thinking right now?"

One didn't need to be a psychic to know what he was thinking.

“That's easy. You think I'm not a psychic and that I'm making it up."

"Fine, then," Nick laughed, hugging him. It was obvious to JC that he didn't want him to get angry, but he still didn’t believe him an inch. The bastard...

“I’m serious Nick,” He retorted, pushing Nick aside. His boyfriend only smiled and dragged him to the couch again, where he leaned over to the coffee table to grab his beer and gave it a sip.

"Ok then, let’s get serious. Tell me about one time when you used your powers. Any time."

"Oh, that's easy!" JC let himself smile. Now he would show Nick that he wasn't kidding. "I knew Justin was going to go solo, and that he was going to be a huge success."

Nick spat out all the alcohol he had in his mouth, splattering all the liquid on the flat screen. JC could’ve sworn he saw beer also coming out of his nose.

“C, warn a guy, will you?” Nick laughed. “And come on! Even _I_ knew Justin was going solo, and that was way before we talked more than two words at Awards ceremonies. You only need to have your eyes open for that kind of insight.”

“But how did I know that he would be successful?” JC smiled, triumphant. “See, _that_ takes being a psychic.”

“Not really,” Nick shook his head, not even looking a little convinced. “You’ve lived all your life in this business, you know the ups and downs, and you know that what it takes to be successful. Besides, the last two years of *N Sync, Justin was billed at the real talent behind the group, so he got all your fans. And you knew that would happen, too.”

“It wasn’t a sure thing, and I _knew_ it would happen.” JC pouted, ending up fighting a smile as Nick kissed him gently. “But fine. I knew Kloey would be a girl before Joey told me.”

“That was a fifty-fifty chance,” Nick said, pulling JC towards him and onto the couch. “More than that, since they already had Brihana, and both Joey and Kelly have many sisters. Besides, Joey had been buying all pink furniture _again_ , you told me that.”

“Oh.” JC frowned. He didn’t quite remember if he had seen Joey buying baby furniture before they got the news of Kloey’s birth and gender. He was almost positive he hadn’t, because by then he had been working with AJ already, but maybe he had. And now he was second guessing himself, something that he hated. “Well, then, what about Lance?”

“If you tell me that you knew Lance was gay or coming out of the closet, C, it won’t work.” Nick shook his head, and then, as if to make his point even more clear, he ruffled JC’s hair. It was growing long again, and yes, JC knew that his manager wanted him to cut it off in hopes that they would finally get around to releasing The Story of Kate, but JC didn’t want to. In fact, he was sure he didn’t want to release Kate anymore. He had new inspiration; new songs… and a couple of those were far more explicit than Some Girls. So he also knew that his sophomore record would bomb, and it was important for him that his boyfriend believed about his powers, so he would believe why he didn’t want to record anything anymore. He _knew_ it was useless.

“Not that, although yes, I did know that too!” JC tried to smile. “What I knew was that he was going to break up with Reichen, the very same day he introduced us.”

“Was that the day when you saw him flirting with one of Lance’s guests?” Nick asked innocently, making JC frown again. Sure, he remembered that now. He had seen Reichen with that other guy, and in that exact moment he knew that it wouldn’t last. Lance deserved someone who was faithful to him, not someone who would try and milk his popularity at all times.

Ok. He could give that one to Nick. It had been observation, not a psychic vision.

“Chris’s group?” he ventured, now starting to doubt himself, even just a little. “Little Red Monsters? I knew they weren’t going to last either, but I knew Chris would get a new group. And he had two.”

“I don’t think Sureshot counts,” Nick joked, earning himself a playful nudge on the ribs. Even if he thought that the whole Man Band debacle had been a bad idea, JC still felt the obligation to defend Chris. Even if JC, Joey, Lance _and_ Justin had told Chris the Man Band thing was a bad idea. “And I think even the fans knew about that one. They scare me man, I am still amazed that they haven’t found about us.”

“What, haven’t you googled Nick Carter / JC Chasez lately?” JC laughed, happy to finally get one point for himself in this weird argument. “Last I saw, there were 214,000 results. And the third one is for stories about us.”

“I don’t want to know,” Nick said, however he looked thoughtful. “Unless you got good ideas from those stories?”

“You’d like to know, wouldn’t you.” JC kissed Nick deeply, which made Nick do _that_ thing with his tongue that JC loved so much, and for at least four hours, the whole psychic deal was forgotten by both of them.

* * *

“I knew this was going to happen,” JC said, lounging in Nick’s arms, enjoying the afterglow.

“Fine, you’re a sex-psychic.” Nick said between laughs, kissing JC’s neck. “That, or you know that your lover can’t resist your charm.”

“That’s way too much information for me, you guys,” AJ said, standing in the doorway, making a show of averting his eyes.

“Don’t you ever knock?” Nick asked, looking quite pissed.

“Don’t you ever close the bedroom door?” AJ answered, lowering his dark glasses as JC tried to remember where he threw his t-shirt after Nick had decided to try another one of the 100 ways to make love. “I’ve been here for an hour, Nick. I tried to give you your privacy, but when C started yelling out of the top of his lungs, I guessed you wanted an audience. C, if you ever want to become the seventh non official BSB, you obviously have the lungs for it.”

“Wait, seventh?” JC frowned, t-shirt momentarily forgotten. Just as well, as AJ walked into the room, picked up something from the floor and threw it at him. His t-shirt. How long had AJ been standing there, again?

“Well, Kevin is still the fifth, even if he claims he retired.” AJ started counting his fingers.

“He should know that retirement doesn’t mean ‘jump back on the stage whenever I’m bored’,” Nick added, anger forgotten. “Unless he just retired from rehearsals.”

“So… he’s retired, except when he’s not?” JC shrugged. “That makes absolute sense.”

“Anyway, Aaron has been the sixth since, well, forever,” AJ continued, not paying any attention. Nick leaned down on the bed, starting to look a bit annoyed again. “I mean, we should even add some of _his_ songs to the tour, since he’s always with us.”

“We could write a song for six or five voices. So he can join whenever he wants,” JC said, nodding as he crawled closer to the bed edge, and farther away from Nick.

“So, of course, you’re the seventh,” AJ finished with a flourish. “Where are your pants, man?”

“Wait, wait… what about NKOTB?” JC wasn’t sure where his pants were. Maybe in the living room.

“They have their own band,” Nick piped in, sounding angry now, but not at AJ. “Your pants are hanging from the lamp.”

“But they are touring with you guys, so that would make them what? Part of your band? Or you’re part of theirs?” JC looked up. Nick was right, his pants were dangling from the lamp, tangled on the chandelier.

“If they’re part of us, that would make you the… twelfth?” AJ followed JC’s sight line and let out a very appreciative whistle. “How did you manage to do that?”

“Thirteen,” JC corrected, trying to reach his pants without losing his sheet. He didn’t want to show AJ more than what he had seen. “You can’t forget Chris. He was supposed to be with you, before Lou decided he looked a lot like Howie.”

  
* * *

“Lou was blind,” Nick had tried to be patient with his lover and best friend, but when AJ _sat_ on the bed while JC tried to fish his pants from the lamp, he had reached his break point. AJ _had_ to go before JC said something that would start again the same snowball depression that had brought the whole psychic deal into the conversation. “Chris looks nothing like Howie. Now AJ, why are you here?”

“If we bring Chris,” AJ didn’t even listened to Nick. It was just as when they had started the group, only that now AJ was _not_ a head taller than him. “We have to bring Joey. You know better than anyone that those two are joined at the hip.”

“And other body parts.” JC finally caught his pants and turned around smiling. “And we need their mouths free, if they’re going to sing, and the only one who can separate them is Lance. Or Kelly, but Kelly can’t sing, so she wouldn’t be on the stage.”

Nick sighed, why AJ always did this? He _knew_ JC got excited thinking about reuniting his group, and every time it happened, he would go back to his sophomore album, remember what the idiots at JIVE did to him, get depressed, try to get a cat (or invite Justin to live with them, which in Nick’s opinion was worse than a cat) and then, when Nick suggested to get that album out with a different distributor, claim that The Story of Kate was cursed. Or that JC was a psychic, although this had been the first time that particular excuse came up. Nick had to admit that his lover got very creative when depressed.

“Lance would never call himself a BSB though,” JC was saying, sitting next to AJ. Nick knew this dance. The next words out of JC’s mouth would be: “So it would have to be *N Sync and the BSB.”

“And NKOTB, Donnie and the guys are cool,” AJ answered, taking off his glasses. That was bad. That meant he was starting to believe in what he was saying. “So it would be what? NKOTBBSB*NSYNC? Or *NSYNCBSBNKOTB? Or BSBNKOTB*NSYNC?”

“That many letters make my head hurt,” JC said between laughs. “Of course, we would need to get Justin on board too. Maybe he could come to…”

“AJ, get out, NOW,” Nick growled. He couldn’t help it, every time JC mentioned Justin, he got jealous.

“Sure, but your boyfriend comes with me,” AJ said and got up.

“No, he doesn’t.” Nick crossed his arms. He was not going to manhandle JC. Not yet.

“Yes, he does, we have a lot to talk about,” AJ insisted, as JC, very obediently, was putting on his shirt. That was not a good sign in Nick’s book.

“Convincing Justin is going to be hard, he’s very happy being an actor now,” JC was mumbling into the fabric. And he sounded so adorable, that Nick couldn’t be mad at him for long. “On the other hand, maybe he’s getting bored of it after Social Network...”

“You don’t have anything else to say to JC, and he and I still have 35 new positions to try out so... he stays.” Nick had to fight the impulse to grab JC’s shirt and get it off his boyfriend again.

“Fine, then.” AJ nodded, seemingly seeing reason. “But then _you_ are going to explain to Brian and Kevin why the last three songs we proposed weren’t finished on time. And you know how the cousins get.”

“I never said I wasn’t going, there’s no need to involve Kevin in this.” JC was now putting his pants, and Nick grumbled under his breath ‘retirement should mean to leave his ex-partners alone, thank you very much’. It wasn’t fair that Kevin still had so much input on the group’s decisions, _and_ that his boyfriend was terrified of him. The fastest way to get JC to do almost anything was to mention that Kevin was coming.  
Which was stupid. Kevin was _not_ as scary as Lance, Joey, Chris and Justin giving him the ‘If you hurt him, we kill you and not even our more dedicated fans will ever find what happened to you’. And Nick didn’t leave the room when Chris and Joey started making jokes about castrating someone.

“It’s not fair to use our ex-pseudo-leader to threaten my boyfriend,” Nick finally said, letting JC get up. At least if they were in the studio, he hoped AJ would stop talking about the theoretical hostile worldwide take over through old washed up boybands and concentrate more on the songs. Song writing usually didn’t depress JC.

“I never threatened him.” AJ shrugged as JC finally finished dressing. “I just reminded you _both_ of the consequences of your actions.”

“You reminded me that I have to change the locks of my house, and not give you all keys this time,” Nick answered playfully throwing a pillow at AJ, who simply moved out of the path of it easily. It was an old routine between them.

“I’ll be back soon, and we can start working on 34, 33, and 32, if you want.” JC kissed him deeply, even if they both knew they had no time for a sixth round.

“Oh, you know I want,” Nick said, smiling on the kiss. “You’re the psychic here.”

“You don’t believe me anyway,” JC answered, but he didn’t sound angry or sad. In fact, it sounded as if he was now into the joke. “See you later.”

Once the door of the bedroom was closed, and Nick was sure that AJ wasn’t being a voyeur, he got up and put on his pants, that had fallen in a much easier place to access than JC’s. As he picked up JC’s jacket, to find his own shirt, the world around him started to get unfocused, as if he was watching one of those old movies flashback effects, and he smiled.

When his sight cleared again, he was staring at the livingroom. He knew it was _his_ livingroom, despite the fact that the furniture was different. Nick saw himself sitting on the couch, next to JC. Both of them looked older, if he had to hazard a guess, he would say they were pushing 50. But JC still had hair, this time shorter which did suit him but not as much as the longer style. He made a mental note of not letting his lover cut his hair any time soon.

Both were laughing, their attention fixed on the TV in front of them. It was a nice looking gadget, and now that he saw it, Nick couldn’t wait for someone to invent it. In front of the not so flat screen, there were Joey, Lance, Chris and JC, looking a little older than the versions Nick knew, but still younger than the JC sitting on the couch. They were dancing, a choreography that Nick didn’t recognize, but he could hear the tell tale notes of It’s Gonna Be Me. And yes, JC dancing still made Nick feel his pants tighten.

“I told you, I’m psychic,” Older JC was saying, his smile so bright it could light up the room. “I _knew_ we couldn’t made our reunion at the same time as you and the NKOTB. We _had_ to make our own success for it to work.”

“Without _him_ you mean,” Older Nick answered, tightening his embrace. “You could’ve waited a little bit more for his schedule to clear.”

“One, it’s been more that 10 years since he got married, I think you can say his name without jealousy, Nick.” Older JC leaned to put his head on Older Nick’s shoulder. “Two, you know how it is. He’s always busy. We all were amazed he managed to give Britney some time for their honeymoon.”

“Britney would’ve killed him if he tried to go on tour right after the wedding,” Older Nick agreed. “Still, that was a great first tour. Are you sure you won’t miss it again?”

“We had six more albums after that one,” Older JC laughed. “And you managed to get every single one in holo-view, so I don’t have to miss it.”

“You on the stage?” Older Nick had a strange look in his face. Nick thought it was sappy, but at the same time, he felt a bit jealous of himself. He couldn’t wait to have the memories needed to see JC that way. “That’s better than porn for me. Of course I want it on glorious hardlight 3D.”

“Did I ever thank you?” Older JC looked suddenly serious.

“For what? The hardlight 3D porn Justin and I taped for you?” Older Nick laughed, just as Nick chocked. Now that was a surprise he could wait before having. “Told you it was not that big of a deal. After all, you have great taste in lovers.”

“No. Insisting that the guys and I should reunite,” Older JC answered. “I mean, I _had_ seen it would work, of course. But your were the one who gave me the encouragement I needed to ask them if we could try it, even if J was too busy.”

“I only said what _I_ knew would happen, with _my_ great powers of observation and optimism,” Older Nick said between laughs. “There’s a reason _I_ have never believed you when you talk about psychic visions, you know?”

“Oh? And what is that great reason?” Older JC said in a mocking tone. But Nick didn’t hear the answer, as his world became unfocused again, and in seconds he was no longer staring at that domestic view and the great 3d holographic TV that he really couldn’t wait to have, but to his own closet, where JC still didn’t want to leave some clothes since that was way too much like moving in.

“You would never believe my reason, anyway, C,” Nick said, smiling, to the empty room. _Now_ he had a reason to keep badgering his boyfriend about his second album and the *N Sync reunion, even if Justin was too busy, or too heartbroken, or too whatever to make it work. Now he knew it would happen, it _had_ to happen, if he was to have that happy life he had just seen. It was all worth it if he could see _that_ smile, for real, directed at him. “See, I know you’re not a psychic, because I am one.”

  
 **The End.**


End file.
